A joyful gathering
Limburgs Museum, Venlo (NL), 2023
Every party is unique, but different types of celebrations have a lot in common. Various play elements allow visitors to the Limburgs Museum to discover the festivities that take place in the Netherlands’ southeasternmost province.
Photos: Limburgs Museum
A full makeover
What kind of a place is Limburg? And what is the province’s identity? When the Limburgs Museum embarked on a makeover, we developed a core concept for the permanent exhibition: Limburg: A Profile. Then we applied it to the first renovated section: Party!
You’re invited
This new family exhibition lets visitors discover celebrations and ceremonies that take place in Limburg. First, they get a chance to drop in on commemorations of life’s milestones taking place in and around colourful houses. These include a birth, a Communion, a marriage and – less joyfully – a funeral.
Everybody does it
In the next part of the exhibition, museumgoers encounter celebrations ranging from Limburg’s Lenten bread-throwing tradition of krombroodrapen to carnival and large festivals such as Pinkpop. Connection and recognition are the focus here, because while every party is unique, the similarities reveal how much human beings have in common. “We want to show that old traditions continue, but that they also renew themselves, and that new traditions arise,” says museum director Bert Mennings.
“This is a true family exhibition that grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren will recognize, hopefully leading to animated conversations.”
Jacobien Peeters, De Limburger – December 2023
For the whole family
Since families are a key audience at the Limburgs Museum, we made sure children and adults could enjoy every part of the exhibition. Visitors can try on various types of wedding clothes in the marriage room. In the seasonal celebrations room, they can practise shooting as it’s done at a traditional shooters’ guild tournament. As part of the content design, we developed concepts for different media. We created a script for an interactive quiz about religious rites and their interconnections. We also wrote a script for a film that sheds light on the different celebrations and how people enjoy them.
All in all, the Party! exhibition speaks to a broad audience. Because parties, whatever their cultural background, have a lot in common. Everyone is welcome at this joyful gathering!
Credits
Client
Limburgs MuseumContent design
Studio LouterSpatial Design
OPERAInteractive Media Production
ShoshoHardware
ShowTeamConstruction
Clabbers Interieurs